Elliot Gaskin

I got an email from my sister very sweetly noting that it had been "a long time" since I'd updated. What can I say? I've been working a lot, but I also was a bit disenchanted with the blog.

We went down to Champaign this weekend, mostly to see my parents. And also to pick out a Christmas tree (shut up -- I like to plan ahead... Plus, I adore Korean Pine Trees and they are not exactly common [also, we're hosting Christmas this year, so I'm kind of giddy about that]).

While there, we went downtown and saw two very cool things.

1. Figure One, a new gallery space. They were showing things by UIUC students, and I quite liked the pulley pieces by Elliot Gaskin. I think I'm going to contact him to ask about their cost, in fact.


2. Cakes on Walnut. I lived in LA & Berkeley, so I'm quite familiar with the cutesy cupcake store concept. And I quite like Sprinkles/Citizen Cake. But this place is better. I think I had the best cupcake ever: apple cake with an apple cider/creme fraiche frosting and a slice of dried apple. All from the local apple orchard, Curtis. My husband had a pumpkin/cream cheese cupcake that he also thought might be the best he'd had.

Plus, they are cute. They have neat plates and interesting lighting This image if from their Facebook page. And they had live music. And they are connected to the above art gallery.
Also we went down around Arthur and got pumpkins, random other squash and some Indian corn. Which was fun.